The Great Baltimore Fire of 1904 in Baltimore began at 10:48 a.m. on Sunday, February 7, 1904 with a fire alarm sounding at the Hurst Building, Liberty Street and Hopkins Place on the south side of German Street (now Redwood Street). The fire would continue until Monday at approximately 5 p.m. The Great Fire was the largest municipal disaster in American history up until that time. The cause of the fire has been speculated as beginning with a discarded cigarette or cigar butt falling through a two-inch hole in a glass deadlight in the sidewalk above the basement of the Hurst Building.

Brisk winter winds spread the fire easily and suddenly, Baltimore’s fire department realized that they would not be able to contain the disaster solely and help from the surrounding area, including Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia, was requested. The fire destroyed 86 blocks and resulted in one direct fatality from the fire and four fatalities from illness attributed to the fire. More than $70 million in property loses were reported.

PP179.727 Burnt District map, The Sun Magazine, 1954

Collection Origin

Collected from several donations. Includes donations originally made to the Peale/Baltimore City Life Museum Collection

Scope and Content

The collection consists of eight boxes, one oversized, of prints, negatives, and periodicals. Most photographs depict city streets after the fire was contained. There are many photographs of rubble and skeletons of buildings are the fire. Guards, police, firefights, and unidentified people are included in some photographs.

Arrangement

The original order of folders and photographs was retained. The prints are described at the folder level and negatives in Box 9 are described to the item level. Box 10 contains oversized periodicals.

Maryland Trust Company building and Continental Trust Company building after fire.

Removed from Peale/BCLM Collection. Catalog number 1985.83.7

34

PP179.496

Maryland Institute Great Hall after fire.

Removed from Peale/BCLM Collection. Catalog number 1985.83.2

34

PP179.497

Maryland Institute Great Hall after fire.

Removed from Peale/BCLM Collection. Catalog number 1985.83.3

35

PP179.498 - PP179.503

The Sun Building (Baltimore Street and South Street); Standard Oil Company Building (Pratt Street and South Street); Chamber of Commerce (Holliday Street and Water Street); Anderson and Ireland Building (Light Street and Pratt Street); Guggenheimer, Weil and Company; Bowley's Wharf, Pratt Street.

Ruins. Looking east on Baltimore Street from corner of Liberty Street.

4 x 5 inch negative

PP179.643

Looking east on Pratt Street and Charles Street. Maltby House on left.

4 x 5 inch negative

PP179.644

Union Trust Company building.

4 x 5 inch negative

PP179.645

Unidentified ruins.

4 x 5 inch negative

PP179.646

Unidentified ruins.

4 x 5 inch negative

PP179.647

Unidentified buildings.

4 x 5 inch negative

PP179.648

Herald Building ?

4 x 5 inch negative

PP179.649

Unidentified ruins.

4 x 5 inch negative

PP179.650

Unidentified ruins with sign regarding fire.

4 x 5 inch negative

PP179.651

Looking south on Charles Street.

4 x 5 inch negative

PP179 Box 10 (Oversized)

Folder

Item ID(s)

Subject Description

Notes

1

PP179.726

Periodical. Harper's Weekly. Vol. XLVIII, No. 2460. New York, Saturday, February 13, 1904. Copyright, 1904, Harper & Brothers. Page 247," Baltimore's Great Fire. An account from our speical correspondent, giving some of the impressions of an eye-witness of one of the most disastrous fires our country has ever known."